


Flowers of Ice

by Yrillya



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: AU Eramis is good now, Christmas Cookies, Cookies, Fallen are great for cuddling, Fluff and cuddles, How does stasis work?, OOC because Eramis is good now, Other, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slow Burn, Stasis tastes like licorice, The Dawning (Destiny), This ghost has a personality, Wholesome Eramis, also awkwardness and stasis flowers, this now has multiple chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27747142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrillya/pseuds/Yrillya
Summary: Eramis may have given up on trying to destroy the Traveler, but the Vanguard doesn't trust her, and thus the guardian has to watch over her. They were expecting this to be a terrible mixture of guard duty and arguing, but instead they make a new friend and learn a lot of things they had never thought about before. This includes the fact that their ghost uses every possible opportunity to make just about anything more romantic.This is a multi-chapter fic in progress. No idea how long it's going to be. The summary is going to be edited depending on the future plot!
Relationships: Nonbinary Guardian/Eramis
Comments: 43
Kudos: 72





	1. Something old, something new

Had anyone told Sam that next week, they'd be sitting in a small camp on Europa, discussing weapon mods with Eramis, they would have called them insane.

But here they were, lounging on a wide chair they had somehow found in the old Braytech ruins, listening to the Kell ramble on about the use of some new shotgun mods they found.

A snowstorm was raging outside, and somewhere in the distance they could hear a few Fallen scattering about, putting up more makeshift tents around the new camp.

Everything felt surreal, as if the darkness was playing a trick on them. Eramis was supposed to try to kill them, not ...this.

To be fair, the two of them didn't get along well, or anything like that. They just didn't have anything to do, and Variks didn't want Eramis to be on her own. So Sam somehow ended up with guard duty.

And somehow, guard duty mostly included sitting in the biggest, warmest tent they could find, multiple heaters set up in the corner, excess blankets covering the chairs and the two beds in the corner.

The Kells' imposing form definitely did not fit in with the rest of their surroundings.

They didn't know if the Fallen had agreed to their presence, but she probably had no choice, so they decided to at least try to be friendly.

Whenever Eramis wasn't giving them the cold shoulder by playing around with small amounts of stasis, that was.

She had started forming small ice crystals in the air, forcing them into all kinds of shapes and randomly throwing them against the walls of their tent. They would usually bounce off the walls, but larger or very sharp objects created small scratches on the thick material.

Thankfully, talking to her usually stopped her from inflicting any more damage on their shelter, so Sam now just tried to find new topics to fill the silence.

That's how they had started discussing wether higher precision or more ammunition was a better option for the weapon currently in front of them.

"I understand your point, but why would you want your one shot to be more precise when you could just have two?"

Yea, this wasn't Sam's plan. They wanted a conversation, not an argument.

"Well, I just prefer it if I don't need two shots, Eramis."

The guardian hoped that that would end the discussion, and thankfully, it did. However, now they had nothing to talk about, and silence filled the room again.

Maybe they should've kept the conversation going instead.

The sound of small blue crystals hitting the tent walls returned and only stopped when the Kell decided to focus on creating larger and more intricate shapes instead.

"Could you at least do something useful with that?"

The Fallen stared at them for a second, stasis crystals floating above one of her hands.

"Unless your definition of useful is building snowmen, I sincerely doubt it."

Eramis may not be about to kill everyone, but this wasn't much better. She was bored, that much was obvious, but there wasn't much one could do in a tent on a freezing planet, and Variks had specifically asked them to keep her from leaving.

"Right. How about we...play a game?"

Silence,one second later, a nod.

"Alright. Sooo, one of us describes a shape or an object or whatever, and the other has to create it with stasis energy. How does that sound?"

"Less boring than doing nothing, I suppose."

Well, that was a start. Now they only had to come up with something they could recreate without it turning into some sort of weapon.

"Do you remember those frogs they had on Nessus?"

Three hours later, they held a tiny replica of their own ghost in their hands, the real one floating just a bit on top, judging and critising their work.

Eramis was creating delicate feathers that were supposed to belong to a chicken. However, she had given up somewhere along the way and simply added the feathers onto her own arm.

"Close enough." 

"Is this a guardian thing? Utilising incredibly dangerous and powerful forces to play games?"

Sam laughed at that, before quickly nodding.

"Is there anything you don't use the Light for?"

The guardian had to think about that one for a few seconds. After all, there was really no reason not to use the light if you could. 

"Nope. Nothing I could think of, at least."

The Kell smiled, and while there was also pain in her features, it seemed like the positive emotions overpowered the negative ones.

"Let's see what else we can do with the Darkness then, shall we?"

Stasis could not cook things. It also couldn't be turned into blankets,or anything else that would be considered comfortable.  
And it tasted like licorice. Because of course it did.

They had tried to create full flowerbeds, and Eramis had spent at least half an hour on what should have probably been some sort of clothing. Its remains were covering the floor, slowly vanishing back into the nothingness they came from.

"Alright, what's next?" The guardian asked, not quite ready to stop their game just yet, both because it would still be a few more hours before they could go to sleep and because they were actually having fun.

"Hmm, how about... You know what lilies look like, yes? Try that. But give it eight petals. And a second, smaller row of petals as well. Round ones, below the large ones."

Sam was following Eramis' instructions as well as possible, slowly creating a beautiful flower they had never seen before.

"Like this?", they asked, carefully presenting it to the Kell, who only nodded.

"They used to grow in Riis, back when it still existed. You know, before...everything. One would give them to their lover, or someone they adored,as a symbol of affection. I used to grow some in my backyard, because they looked so beautiful."

The guardian was stunned by the fact that Eramis was actually talking about something other than the desctruction of the Traveler or her eternal boredom. They had never seen the Kell show any positive emotion, especially not so openly.

"Thank you for telling me. They are quite beautiful. I assume they're all gone now?"

"Yes, I'm afraid they are. But you managed to recreate them quite well." She said, a soft smile on her face.

Sam looked down at the flower, still resting on their open palm, icy petals glimmering in the light, before once again extending their hand towards Eramis.

"Would you like to have it? I mean, it's probably going to disappear eventually, but..."

The guardian could feel two glowing eyes staring at them, but didn't retract their hand. They raised their head, looking up at the Kell standing in front of them.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, it's going to disappear either way, right? Might as well..."

Eramis' gaze softened, and she carefully took the flower, placing it on her palm,making sure to avoid damaging it in any way possible.  
"Thank you, guardian. Your intentions may not be the same as those of the Eliksni, but a gift is a gift."

They nodded, a smile on their face.

"Have you ever been in love, Eramis?"

"Once, long ago. Not that it matters now. She's dead. The times have changed. Right now, it's just nice to know that someone..cares?"

She looked down at them, her eyes searching for something.

Sam just smiled back softly before nodding and carefully proceeded to walk closer to the Kell, one small step at a time.

"Can I give you a hug?" They ask, watching Eramis' face for any reaction.

Instead of answering, the Kell took a step towards the guardian's smaller form and wrapped her arms around them softly.

"I'm sure that there are more people..Eliksni, or Fallen, or whatever...out there, who care about you. If you, yknow, stop trying to blow them all up in a plan to rule the world?"

Eramis chuckled at that." I'm fairly certain I already stopped doing that a few days ago. But thank you, once again."

The room fell silent for a few seconds before Sam spoke up again.

"Soo, uh, how do you feel about cuddling? Because I'm fairly certain that four arms are pretty damn good for cuddling."

The Kell simply smiled at them and carefully led them over to one of the beds in the tent, reaching for some of the blankets someone had left all over the place.

"As long as you don't steal my blanket, I think we'll get along just fine."


	2. Breakfast in Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! More fluff :D  
> I have no idea how long this fic is going to be, and the chapters will differ in length, depending on the actual content.  
> Have fun reading :D

Sam awoke to the sound of hail hitting their tent, a deep,loud and steady humming filling the air. Hailstorms usually signaled a day off, because it was almost impossible to get anything done when you were permanently bombarded with tiny balls of ice, even for guardians.

However, they quickly remembered that they would, in fact, still have to work.

Mostly because their "job" was currently next to them, wrapped up in more blankets than should be possible, two of the the four arms loosely wrapped around the guardians form.

Right, that happened.

They were fairly certain that when Variks and Zavala had asked them to ensure that Eramis wouldn't wreak havoc, they didn't mean "go give her a big hug and cuddle up in bed together", but it was working so far, right?

Sam couldn't remember exactly why they thought that offering their friendship to the Kell was a good idea, and they were fairly certain that the other wasn't sure that she should accept it, but it was done.

At the very least, Eramis was now hopefully less likely to try and summon a giant Vex Hydra to eradicate the whole planet, right? Right?

Before they could continue panicking about the fact that they had somehow decided to befriend their captive, the Fallen awoke, two bright eyes slowly focusing on her surroundings.

"Good morning..", they said, their voice fading into nothingness at the end of the words, as if they had suddenly decided that speaking was a bad idea. 

The woman (did the Fallen have the same concept of women and men as their race? Well, they could probably figure that out if they annoyed Variks long ago) mumbled a few words, most likely returning the greeting, before turning around to orient herself.

Out of nowhere, Ghost popped up and happily greeted both occupants of the big bed with a happy and motivated voice.

"Gooood mooorning! Guess what, there's a hailstorm outside, so you get to stay inside all day. Yaaay."

Ghosts didn't need to sleep, which was very useful, but sadly, they also didn't realise that everyone else did need to sleep, and that waking up usually involved about 30 minutes of being awake but also not really.

"Ghost, is that really necessary?"

The little ball bobbed around in the air gleefully, apparently expecting a wonderful day inside filled with whatever ghosts did when they didn't keep their guardians from dying.

"We could play more games. I mean, that one you made up yesterday was fun, but I have blueprints for sooo many other games."

Sam looked over at Eramis, who, thankfully, looked just as tired as they did, and just stared at the Ghost with confusion.

"Are they always that...loud?"

The guardian picked up on the unspoken "annoying" that was barely hidden in the other's voice, and slowly nodded.

"Well, they're not gonna stop until I get up and give them something to do,so..." they said, aware of the fact that their Ghost was glaring at them. "You can stay in bed though, I don't mind."

Sam got up and walked over to the small kitchenette in one of the corners of the makeshift room, boiling some water and searching the cabinets for whatever food Zavala had left for them.

They grabbed a few slices of toast and a few fruit, tossing the bread into a pan with a small amount of butter and cutting the apples into acceptable slices before adding them into a bowl with some bananas and grapes.

At some point, Ghost had started quietly playing music in the background, steadily raising the volume to a point where it mostly droned out the irregular sounds of hail hitting the walls, creating a much more comfortable atmosphere inside the room.

The guardian was just leaning down to grab two cups from one of the lower shelves when another person appeared behind them.

"Do you ..Can I help?"

Eramis wanting to join them for breakfast was something they had expected, but the thought of the Kell actually preparing food was somehow very odd. 

Wait.

Did the Fallen even eat breakfast? And if so, what food did they usually prepare?

They should've asked Variks about this, but they truly hadn't considered the fact that maybe, at some point, they would actually get along with Eramis well enough to eat breakfast together.

"Uhm, sure. I have no idea what you'd like to eat, so if you could just get whatever you usually eat, that would be great."

The Kell walked over to the fridge, assessing its contents for a while, before the cheerful voice of Sam's ghost joined the two.

"You should totally try the bacon. It's awesome. It's also the only kind of meat we have here, sooooo."

Right, the Fallen were carnivorous. 

Or at least that's what everyone they knew said..well, time to find out themselves.

"Do you guys only eat meat?"

Eramis turned around to face the guardian, bacon in one hand and some eggs in the other.

"Well,no..not really. We do prefer it, but we can eat other things too. As long as it's not just plant fibers."

Sam knew that Variks supplied the Kell with Ether, so they didn't have to worry about that, but they should probably request some more supplies that were more to the woman's tastes.

"Do you want me to cook those?", they asked, already grabbing another pan and moving it to the stove.

"I can do that myself. Maybe you should worry more about whatever you're trying to do with that water..other than vaporising it, that is."

The guardian was not expecting Eramis to joke. They didn't even know that the Kell could make jokes. 

However, the boiling water was indeed slowly disappearing into hot steam, so they definitely had other priorities for now.

Sam rushed over to the kettle and took it off the heat before pouring it into the two cups they had previously set down to hand the Fallen a pan. They hadn't put any teabags in the cups yet, which felt like a small crime, but they also didn't know what tea their new companion would like.

"Eramis, do the Fallen drink tea?"

The look on her face told them that no, the Fallen do not drink tea. Or at the very least, they don't call it tea.

"Ghost, what kind of tea is the most popular in people who have never had tea before?"

The small orb simply turned towards you for a second before raising a pixelated eyebrow on its display and laughing.

Sam simply grabbed another bag of black tea, put them both in the cups, and walked over to the makeshift table next to one of the large sofas the Vanguard had somehow placed in the tent. 

They then went back to the countertop and grabbed the fruit and toast, as well as additional plates for both them and Eramis.

The Kell had already put the bacon and eggs on a large tray on the table, and Ghost had gone through the unnecessary trouble of lighting a a few candles spread out around the various plates and cups.

There may be a hailstorm raging outside, but Sam couldn't imagine a better place to be at right now. 

Even if the candles were a bit too much, and their breakfast companion was a Fallen that wanted to kill them less than 48 hours ago.


	3. Wars and Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eramis shares recently discovered blueprints with the guardian and the Vanguard, and while they prepare for battle, Ghost tries to teach the Fallen about the Dawning and the importance of cookies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> As always, there's no beta-reader or anything like that, so if there's any errors, please tell me so I can fix them^^  
> I'm trying to have some actual plot in this fic, but it's still going to be mostly fluff, so no worries - no actual combat scenes or anything like that.
> 
> I will try my hardest to upload a new chapter every week, but I can't guarantee that I'll manage. However, this fic won't be abandoned, no worries :D

Sam was pacing the small room, up and down, up and down, making sure to avoid tripping over any of the objects cluttering the floor of their tent.

Their ghost was sitting on a small table in the middle of the room, falling over every now and then because staying upright required motivation they currently didnt have.

Truly, the only person doing anything remotely useful in the makeshift room was Eramis, dressed in a basic set of clothes lacking anything resembling armor, halfway crouched over multiple maps of Europa.

She was inspecting blueprints that some of her people had recently discovered, showing a large complex of buildings on Europa.

The Kell was well aware of the reason behind the actions of her "roommates", and while she wasn't exactly happy either, she had recently learned that one couldn't just freeze everything to death and hope for life to get better.

Which was also why she was the one to actually open the door of their temporary home shortly after the sounds of a landing ship broke the silence that usually reigned over the frozen planet.

The Awoken just nodded his thanks before entering the room and turning towards its two other residents, Sam now leaning against a wall, their ghost laying sideways on the table, both of them looking utterly unprepared for the conversation that was soon to come.

"Commander Zavala, it's..good to see you."

The Guardian quickly found their voice again, walking over to their ghost to pick them up.

"Variks informed me that things were going better than expected, and that you had found some plans concerning the old Braytech facility on Europa?"

The titan didn't seem to enjoy the Fallen's presence, but at the very least, he hadn't insulted her or sent her outside, so things were going better than expected.

"Yes, I contacted you the second we got them. Eramis has been trying to figure them out. She's been here for quite a bit longer than we have, so..."

Zavala shook his head in disapproval at the fact that the guardian hadn't even tried to look at the plans themselves.

"Last I checked, you were the one who was supposed to cover confidential information like that. Who knows what Clovis hid in there. If the Fallen get their hands on it.."

The Kell looked like she wanted to argue with the man, but realised that it wouldn't make a difference. Instead she simply grabbed the maps and handed them over to the other.

"There seems to be another entrance, leading to areas of the facility neither mine nor your troops have explored so far. However, I fear that one of my former allies may have found a way in, and she's rather good with technology. We should prepare to secure the area and .. clean out any Eliksni that may be in there."

Sam stared at the woman, not used to her talking any more than absolutely necessary.

"Oh oh, does that mean we can test out those new weapons you just found?"

At least Ghost seemed to appreciate the new information, already floating over to a few weapons the guardian had dropped into a corner.

"Els...the Exo Stranger would probably like to know about that too. She might be able to help us navigate the place, and figure out how to get past its defenses."

Clovis Bray wasn't known for being careless, and if the Fallen had somehow managed to get into the area, they would have to prepare for an onslaught from both sides.

"I don't like the idea of sending the Eliksni who followed me into combat against those who left, but I can offer to secure the perimeter."

Zavala clearly didn't enjoy the thought of Fallen wielding Exo technology, nor the idea of having to work together with the House of Salvation, but it was obvious that neither could be avoided.

"Very well. Sam, talk to your..friend. See if she knows anything about this place. I'll trust you to supervise any and all activities of our new..allies until the Vanguard has a plan on how to proceed. You do still have a copy of these documents, yes?"

The Awoken turned to leave the moment the guardian nodded, quickly walking towards his ship and departing from the encampment.

Well, that went about as well as expected.

"I already sent the maps to Elsie, so now we just need to wait for her response."

Ghost had apparently decided that they had spent enough time being useless and started tyding up the room instead, making sure to leave all of Eramis' notes alone.

The room wasn't that messy in the first place, but anything was better than having to discuss the idea of another fight.

Especially since the Dawning was approaching, and Ghost definitely wanted to get some cookies.

They couldn't eat them, but they could look at them, or use them as chips for card games.

"Very well, I guess I'll try to figure out how to get the other guardians to accept the idea that they'll be working with the Fallen now. Eramis, have you figured out anything else so far? I understand that you don't want to give any details to Zavala, but I should probably get my fireteam in, and the better prepared we are, the less likely this is going to turn into a desaster."

The Kell smiled at her newest friend, and carefully picked up the remaining documents on her desk.

"I sent Atraks to investigate the ruins when I was still about to blow up everything, so she's very likely to be in there. There's also the possibility that she ... no, there's no reason for paranoia... My troops haven't really explored the area any further, so if you go in, all you'll have is those maps and whatever that Exo can tell you."

"And here I thought I was done trying to save the world..", Sam said, exhaustion and sarcasm lacing their voice.

"Hey, at least you can finally test out this new gun!"

Ghost was still moving around random objects, but had apparently decided to turn cleaning into a game of sorts, giving themselves points based on a rule system the others hadn't quite figured out.

"Seems like someone isn't opposed to the idea of fighting."

Eramis' tone was unexpectedly light, considering the fact that they were planning to fight Fallen that had been part of her House not too long ago.

She walked over to her usual chair, wide enough to be a small couch, a decent amount of blankets and pillows turning the hard object into a comfortable seat, before grabbing one of the stray pens on the desk that Ghost hadn't gotten rid of yet.

One of her other arms reached for a few pieces of paper, pulling them closer so she could lay them down right in front of her.

Sam was standing in the middle of the room, utterly confused.

They were about to start yet another war, against some Fallen that was apparently capable of using Exo technology, Zavala hadn't sent them right back to the Moon for working together with Eramis or treating her like an ally rather than a prisoner, and their Ghost had slowly started humming familiar tunes while sorting objects into a few shelves.

They were fairly certain that they had gone insane over the last few days.

The guardian needed a break.

One they knew they wouldn't – couldn't – get, because even if Europa wasn't filled with scary technology and millions of Vex, the rest of the solar system was still trying to deal with the Darkness, and the Vanguard had recently re-established contact with a few stray guardians in the Cosmodrome.

Maybe walking into Braytech and just blowing everything up was a good plan after all.

Sam groaned, their head falling into their hands, their whole posture signaling frustration to anyone who looked their way.

"What's wrong?"

They raised their head again, gaze drifting towards Eramis.

"Everything. Everything is wrong. This..I thought I could finally take a short break from the whole "saving the solar system"-thingie. Well.."

The Kell nodded in understanding before getting up and slowly leading her companion to another free chair and wrapping a blanket around their form.

"You're quite young, aren't you? Peace is always a fleeting thing in this system. It takes a while to accept that that's just how things are going to be, but once you do, you learn to enjoy the small moments you get."

"You mean, the small moments when an insane Fallen Kell isn't trying to lead the Vex onto Europa to destroy everything while showing all the other Fallen to wield stasis powers?"

The woman chuckled at that, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about."

"I guess you're right. It's not that I dislike fighting, or saving people, or any of those things. But I have other things to do as well."

"Yea, you have to bake cookies. I want at least fifty. Oh, and you should make some for Eramis too."

Both the Fallen and the guardian looked up at the ghost, now floating close to their chairs, happily bobbing up and down.

Eramis had gone back to her usual calm and uncaring state while Sam seemed just as agitated as before.

"Really Ghost? The word is about to go down, and you want to bake cookies?"

"Well yes. I also want a cute winter hat, but well. Look, the world is always about to go down, Eramis just said that as well. We should just wait for the Vanguard to process all those documents and do something fun in the meantime."

Sam knew that their ghost was right.

The Darkness wouldn't stop corrupting everything just because they glared at it hard enough, and it would take time to figure out what to do.

So they might as well do something else in the meantime, something that didn't involve shooting a thousand Vex or clearing out yet another Hive nest.

When Eramis noticed that the guardian had finally calmed down a bit, she raised her voice slightly, just loud enough for the sound to reach both the Awoken and their ghost, and directed a simple question at them.

"What exactly are those "cookies" you're talking about?"

Sam was waiting for the Kell to continue, make a joke, complain about the uselessness of sweets.

Anything.

But then they realised that Fallen probably didn't have cookies, and if they did have them at some point, they probably had a better name for them.

Before they could respond, their ghost had already pulled out thousands of pictures of various cookies, along with recipes, drawings, and of course, photos of the Tower during the Dawning.

"Cookies are the best thing in the world. Apparently. When you can eat them. Anyways, people make them during the Dawning. It's a celebration of some sort. And everyone decorates the Tower, and then you gift cookies to people you like. Oh and there's fancy outifts, and .."

Both the Fallen and the Awoken tuned out the rambling of Ghost, still smiling at its enthusiasm.

"Ghost, I don't think that Eramis cares about what people wear for the Dawning.."

"It's alright, don't worry. We had festivals like that too, back in Riis. Nowadays, the only thing we celebrate is when we find a new planet to live on, or a new city to plunder."

"In that case, we should definitely ask Zavala to get some decoration to Europa. I'm sure Riis-Reborn would look far better with more lights and all the other decor."

Sam didn't know how to even process the idea of the Vanguard sending Dawning ornaments to Europa so the Fallen could decorate their city.

Eramis apparently couldn't quite figure it out either.

"Fiiiiine, let's just go to the Tower then. The celebration's going to start in what, two weeks? That will give you enough time to prepare for whatever the Vanguard has planned for Braytech, and it gives me enough time to figure out what hat I want."

"Two weeks is probably enough to clean out most of the facility anyways. I should go talk to Elsie as soon as she responds, and hopefully we can get in and out of that place fast enough to celebrate the Dawning properly."

Sam left the part where they weren't quite certain how to get Eramis into the Tower in the first place unspoken.

"Yaaaay! Great plan. Lemme just send her another message that this is very important and we need more info asap."

The Kell was still confused about what was happening, but the mentioning of the upcoming battle reminded her of her own plans.

"I'll talk to what's left of my people. We should be able to clear out the perimeter so you can get in and out easily. I'll also try to figure out if there's any more information that could be useful."

"Oh, I know what I'll do. You still have some decoration at your place, right? I should be able to get that shipped to Europa in no time!"

Sam simply decided to ignore the fact that their ghost would most likely tell some other guardian that the box of decoration was actually something incredibly important and would make it on one of the rare shipments that usually held new weapons and food.

At the end of the day, the world would be chaotic either way, and the Darkness certainly wasn't going to just take a break because someone hung up a couple of festive lights.

But no one ever said that they couldn't prepare for battle and the Dawning at the same time.


	4. Crates of Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost managed to get their nonexistent hands on some decoration for the Dawning, and now everyone is struggling to properly decorate their place while also considering the incoming battles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am baaaack!  
> Hope you all had a few nice days with your friends, family, or your favourite plushie and some great pizza!  
> My hometown is covered in snow, so I was sort of busy trying to shovel a way out of it so we could get some food, buuuut now I finally have time to write again :D  
> teeny tiny trigger warning (for anyone who cares): Sam gets adressed with their birth name by the delivery guy, so if you don't wanna read that, just skip the few bits with the delivery person in it, you won't really miss anything.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoy! I'm already working on the next chapter, so that should be up soon-ish:D

Ghost was jumping up and down, up and down, again and again, sometimes accidentally colliding with the roof of the tent, knocking off the bits of snow resting on the outside of the tent.

Sam would love to pretend that they didn't know what was going on, for the sake of both themselves and their ghost whenever the Vanguard would figure out that somehow, someone had used the high priority shipments to get candles, glittering ornaments, plush carpets and various ingredients meant for baking.

Their little sidekick had tried to stay quiet, but well, they weren't particularly skilled at keeping their excitement to themselves, and now everyone within a ten mile radius knew that they were going to get Dawning cookies.

Sam didn't even know how to bake properly.

But that wouldn't stop their ghost from trying to cheer everyone up by simply holding a celebration. 

On Europa.

Sometimes it was good to know that life was just as crazy as it had been before the Darkness decided to visit.

Eramis was sitting in her large chair once again, trying to figure out a way to work together with the Vanguard without any major issues.

While her troops were already guarding the newfound Braytech facilities, Zavala didn't trust her with anything else, leaving large parts of the moon unpatrolled, and many small camps low on soldiers.

And while the attacks of the leftover Fallen had slowly died down, the Vex were relentless in their pursuit of...well, whatever the Vex were persuing whenever they appeared somewhere.

World domination?

Absolute destruction?

Cookies?

No one truly knew.

The Kell was just about to draft yet another letter to another member of the Vanguard in hopes of convincing her instead of Zavala when a faint tapping echoed through the room.

"Oh,oh, wait, I'm going to get it. Cooooming!"

Ghost practically bumped into the door while trying to float there in time, before quickly pulling it open and gesturing for Sam to help them with the delivered boxes.

"Uhm, emergency shipment for..Samantha Lewis?"

The person standing outside of the door – they had actually send a living being instead of one of Zavala's robot friends – looked obviously uncomfortable, cold, and slightly confused.

They pointed towards a few crates of various sizes, stacked on top of a small sled, while holding out a small device, allowing either Ghost or Sam to accept the delivery.

"Thank you..Uhm, are there any other deliveries to Europa that you had to take care of as well? You can just drop it off here and we'll hand it over to the others."

Sam already started moving some of the smaller crates inside, and Eramis, who had caught onto the situation, got up and joined her friend while Ghost was dealing with the formal issues.

"No, nothing. Just this one delivery. The note said that it was extremely important, so we wanted to get it shipped out as soon as possible."

The guardian wanted to take their ghost and throw it into the nearest lost sector – but that would probably kill their ghost, and in turn, also sort of kill them, so they just glared at it angrily.

This poor person had to come to Europa to deliver a bunch of Dawing decoration, and nothing else.

"Oh, alright. Well, thank you very much. Have fun on your way back?"

The delivery person nodded and quickly left, very much not comfortable with the fact that there was a Fallen working together with the guardian.

Or maybe they were just very cold and also very freaked out by this strange planet.

Or it was their day off and Zavala had just sent them here because of an emergency shipment.

The Awoken could already see Ghost trying to figure out a good explanation for this.

"Well, see, keeping the motivation of the people working up is a very important part of warfare, and this place is really dreadful, so I thought.."

Sam just nodded, a soft smile on their face.

"I get it, just..couldn't you have asked for anything other than emergency delivery? This poor lad had to come here on what was probably their day off, just to deliver..an easy bake oven?"

Poking out of one of the larger crates was indeed one of the famous easy bake ovens many guardians received during the Dawning. 

Partially because they could take it with them to almost any planet, unlike a regular kitchen.

But primarily because it made baking a lot easier and many guardians just had better things to do than figuring out how to properly prepare cookies.

"So, what is all of this about?" Eramis asked, obviously confused by the string of lights she was pulling out of one of the boxes carefully.

"Oh, let me explain! Pleeeease? Soo, there's this celebration called the Dawning..I told you about it already, remember? Anyways, I decided to get some decoration and such shipped to Europa..I already told you about that, I think..and yea, that's all decoration. And stuff for cookies. And uh, an oven."

The Fallen nodded, remembering the previous conversation she had had with the small ball.

"Alright..then, the plan is to just unpack all of this and decorate the camp,yes?"

Ghost jumped up and down in the air happily before quickly moving towards one of the blue boxes.

"That's some stuff I ordered from Eververse directly, since well, Sam didn't have enough decorations at home."

The mentioned guardian groaned at that, well aware of the fact that their bank account would probably be empty now.

"Saaaam, help! My hat is in there, but I can't get past all the wrapping paper.."

The Awoken laughed before walking over to the chest and digging through various small items, all wrapped in protective layers of paper or plastic, and pulled out a tiny red and green felt hat, dropping it on their ghost's head.

"There you go, little buddy. Can we move on to actually important things now?"

The Exo Stranger would drop by later today, and Sam doubted that she would appreciate the chaos caused by anyone trying to put up decoration for the Dawning.

However, Ghost had already started to open another box, pulling out many small ornaments in the shapes of snowflakes and icicles, moving them all on top of the table in the middle of the room.

"Your friend is going to stop by in the evening, right? Until then,we should be able to at least organise all of these items, and bring all the packaging to the waste disposal area."

Eramis was taking the rapid onslaught of bright,glittering items and food boxes rather well, and had indeed simply started to put them all together in small bundles, based on their shape and colour.

Sam decided to give up on their attempt to move on to topics related to greater issues, and instead started unrolling one of the small carpets Ghost had ordered.

"Alright then. Let's get this sorted out, and hope that we're done when Elsie arrives."

They took a few blue carpets and spread them out in the room, while keeping all the others in their wrapping and moving them into a corner, tying them together in bundles of three so they could more easily hand them over to other guardians and workers.

"I also got some larger lights for Riis, they're in one of the big wooden crates. I was thinking Eramis could take those to the other Fallen whenever she visits them?"

Leave it to Ghost to order fairy lights for a group of aliens that had tried to kill them a few weeks ago.

"Thank you, that's very kind. I'll be sure to take them with me. The other Eliksni certainly won't mind."

Well, at the very least, Eramis seemed to like the idea.

Sam took some of the smaller fairy lights and put together bundles, making sure that each of them had at least one of every variation of lights that their ghost had found.

After that, they moved on to the various multicoloured candles contained in two plain boxes from their own apartment.

Most people would consider candle-making to be a rather odd hobby when you spend most of your time fighting various alien races to defend humanity, but Sam had picked the skill up at some point and now regularly made small batches of lights whenever they weren't doing well.

Usually, they handed the items out to their friends or random people in the Tower, but this time they were apparently going to decorate Europa.

Eramis had stopped her task, instead looking at the many multicoloured candles Sam was placing on the counter.

"What are those?"

"Oh, right, the Fa..the Eliksni probably don't have candles, eh?"

They could see the Kell's features light up a bit at their choice of words before she shook her head ever so slightly.

"Well, they're lights, pretty much. You take any kind of wax..originally, humans used beeswax, but there's loads of different kinds available now. And then you melt down that wax and shape it however you want. You can also add scented oils, or flower petals, or glitter...anything, really. And you add a wick in the middle. The wick is highly burnable, so when you light it – with fire – it'll burn and create heat, which melts the wax and fuels the fire."

"That does sound very interesting. I don't recall anyone ever making candles in Riis, but we did have similar decorative ways of lighting fires."

Sam nodded, before finishing their short explanation.

"They burn down eventually, and then you have to replace the candle..and because it's fire, they're hot and can potentially burn things, and all that...but they're really pretty, so some people still use them as decorations instead of all the new, non flammable kinds of light."

"Do you think we could take some of those to Riis-Reborn as well? If you have enough to hand out to your people, that is."

The Fa – no, not the Fallen, the Eliksni, Sam corrected themselves mentally – the Eliksni looked a little uncertain, but she seemed to appreciate the craftmanship, and a little extra warmth would hurt no one.

And well, Sam did have two huge boxes of candles thanks to their ghost, and there was no way the fifteen people staying in the main camp would use up even a single one of them.

"Sure..You can just take that second box, we won't need that many anways."

"Oooh, you could also take some cookies with you, once Sam managed to make some without blowing this place up."

"Really Ghost? I'm not THAT bad at baking..and you got me an easy bake oven. This is gonna be fine. Zero casualities. I'd be more worried about wether the Eliksni can even digest cookies.."

"Don't worry, I checked the databank, and apparently, they can digest all animal products and flour and sugar should work too, since those aren't that hard to digest."

Sam was torn between being happy about the fact that they could sort of help integrate the Eliksni into their society by showing them one of their most popular celebration, and being confused about the fact that some scientist had apparently tried to figure out wether the Eliksni could eat certain food items.

They were even more bewildered by the fact that that person had apparently added said knowledge to the Vanguard archives.

Their thoughts were cut short however, when their ghost started pulling out multiple cookie recipes and started putting them onto the walls using some sort of tape.

"Ghost, I am not making that many kinds of cookies."

They managed to make butter cookies and ones with chocolate chips, and they had a recipe for small, moon shaped vanilla cookies somewhere that usually turned out decent – but that was about it.

"Well, I thought Eramis might want to help."

They stared at their ghost, their expression conveying that they were very aware that their companion had just come up with that statement.

"I don't usually cook, but I suppose I could try making some?"

Okay, maybe Ghost's plan wasn't all that terrible after all.

"Sure, Yea, we can do that. Tomorrow maybe? I still have to talk to Elsie about all the Braytech stuff."

They didn't mention the bit where they would also have to call their fireteam and figure out how to handle said "Braytech stuff". 

Raids weren't uncommon, but they took far too much time for their comfort, and the signal on Europa was so bad that they probably wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone on the outside, so they'd have to plan everything well.

Sam did not look forward to it at all.

However, since Zavala still hadn't contacted them, they would probably have enough time to make a bunch of cookies and hand out decorations before they had to raid the place.

"Saaaam, stop overthinking stuff and help me with the lights instead, I can't put them up on my own!"

"Oh yea, sure. Uhm, Eramis? Could you maybe get all the ingredients out of those two boxes and put them in the fridge? And uh, open up that last box?"

The Eliksni nodded and carefully picked up the boxes with food to get them closer to the fridge, before opening up the last blue box.

Sam was just hanging another one of the fairy lights when they felt something soft hit their head.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you'd catch it..this is for you, I think."

On their head was a large, blue, woolen blob.

Ghost had gotten them yet another Dawning jumper.

And it would be two sizes too big, as always, because somehow their ghost didn't understand clothes sizing.

"Right, I did get you that as well..Because. You know. Dawning spirit. Gotta be a good example for everyone. Also, you love fluffy things, and I had some extra money left."

"You mean, I had some money left? Whatever, it's cute..I guess. And warm. Thanks."

"They didn't have any with four arms, soo I couldn't get you one I'm afraid.", Ghost said, looking over to where Eramis was standing.

"However, there is a similar blanket in there for you, so you could probably turn that into some sort of cape? I don't know, really.."

The Kell pulled out another piece of blue fabric, the large blanket decorated with the same print as the jumper, and slowly wrapped it around her body.

"It's very nice, thank you, Ghost. And uh, thank you for paying for it, Sam."

Ghost nodded happily, satisfied with the results of their impromtu purchase.

"Well, time to finish decorating so that Elsie gets some Dawning cheer as well!"

And even though there were random boxes stacked in all corners and the world outside was still filled with Vex ready to kill everyone and a bunch of Eliksni figuring out how to use Exo technology, Sam truly did feel like the Dawning had arrived, together with all the blue carpets, the icy ornaments, the fairly lights on the walls, yet another easy bake oven, and hundreds of small, colourful candles, all displayed on the kitchen counters, ready to spread the spirit of the Dawning to all the others.


	5. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam gets more information about the Braytech facility they plan on attacking and Ghosts makes sure that everyone gets enough cookies. Eramis somehow gets stuck in between.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry for uh..not uploading on time. My schedule is very packed at the moment, and even though the chapters are pretty short, it takes a fair amount of time to write them.  
> I will try to keep the chapters coming regularly, and there will be one roughly every week :D  
> For anyone wondering, No, I won't write about the actual raid, but Sam and Eramis will be discussing the aftermath- I just don't feel like writing fight scenes.  
> I already spent 12 hours on Atraks-1 within a single day, that's enough for some time.  
> Is there anything you guys would like to see in the future? I have a rough plan on how this story is going to progress, but I always appreciate the input of others :D

Sam was sitting on their dark blue sofa, facing the low table in front of them, covered in far too many small candles. 

Above their head was one of about a dozen glowing icicle-like ornaments, and they had begrudingly put on the blue hoodie their companion had bought for them.

To say that Elsie would be confused when entering their temporary home was an understatement.

The Exo had agreed to visit them in the evening, and now they were awaiting her arrival, while Eramis was browsing some of the cookie recipes.

Or well, trying to.

It was mostly Eramis staring at pictures and trying to figure out what ingredients she would need while Ghost bounced through the air happily, talking about cookies, festivities, and of course, their new hat.

Yes, Elisabeth would most definitely be confused.

As far as Sam was aware, there was no timeline in which the Kell had decided to help humanity and spent her days baking cookies instead of fighting wars against the Vanguard.

They would probably have to spend some time explaining the current situation, as the Exo was only aware of the fact that the Eliksni was indeed staying with them and was not about to attack anyone – the guardian hadn't mentioned that the two of them had somehow become friends.

The Awoken was just about to figure out yet another way to ideally summarise the situation without confusing anyone any more than absolutely necessary, when the soft sound of knocking on their makeshift door made them realise that it was officially too late for plans.

Sam got up and walked towards the door, their two roommates still busy with figuring out how to make a certain cookie – apparently they had decided that this was Sam's issue to deal with.

"Hey! Thanks for visiting. Come on in, it's probably cold outside..you can sit down on the sofa, or on one of the free chairs."

The Exo nodded her thanks and walked into the open room, her ever-present companion floating beside her. 

"You wanted to talk about one of the Braytech facilities you found, yes? I don't like the idea of anyone rediscovering my grandfather's knowlegde, but if you have to go in there to get rid of the Fallen,..."

Elisabeth stopped suddenly, finally having spotted the other occupant of the tent.

"Hey Elsie! How are you doing? Are you finally gonna introduce your little buddy to me? Oh,oh, do they want a hat too? I should have a second one somewhere."

Ghost seemed oblivious to the fact that the issue at hand was not their hat but the fact that the Eliksni Kell was standing next to them.

Eramis had turned around and was now looking at the Exo standing in front of her, both of them unsure of how to proceed.

"Uhh, Elsie, that's Eramis. Yknow, the Kell of the House of Salvation? She sort of decided to stop destroying everything and is now....baking cookies. Eramis, that's Elisabeth Bray, she's here to help us figure out what to expect in that facility we found."

Sam had expected the tension and slight awkwardness, but was pleasantly suprised when the two simply nodded at each other and carried on doing what they were doing, Elsie moving towards a free seat and Eramis looking through some more recipes.

"So, I take it that the House of Salvation won't be an issue this time around. That's good to hear. One less way for the Darkness to harm everyone."

The guardian quickly agreed, now a little more comfortable in their own skin, before placing the blueprints they had sent the Exo a few days ago on the table.

"So, you wouldn't happen to know what this place is, would you?"

Elisabeth sighed, her face morphing into what could only be described as a mixture of reluctance and disappointment.

"Well, from what I can tell, it seems you – and the Fallen – have found the Deepstone Crypt. I would have preferred it if no one had learned of its existence, but it seems that some things will stay the same, no matter the timeline."

The Exo carried on with her explanation about the facility and the hidden knowledge it was meant to protect.

"If the Fallen are in there, and if they have figured out a way to actually utilise the technologies available, you will be facing a fair amount of issues."

She looked up at Sam, waiting for a question, but when the guardian just calmy looked at her, she continued.

"Clovis Bray has always been known for considering himself godlike and perfect, his knowledge and technology a way to improve humanity – but he never liked sharing. You should expect a rather powerful defense system. Additionally, the Crypt is connected with a space station holding additional tech – make sure you clear that out as well, if the Fallen have managed to get there."

"Excuse me, but when you talk about improving humanity, what exactly are you referring to?"

Eramis had stopped browsing recipes and was now standing next to Sam, keen to find out exactly what was going on.

"Exos. People like me. Humans, in metal bodies. Braytech has always been about transcending mortality, improving humans, all that stuff. Dangerous things, and my grandfather has always been good at dismissing morals for the sake of science, so be prepared for everything."

"The Eliksni that lead the rest of my people in there, she's always been rather fond of science. Do you think she might be able to..utilise that technology?"

The room fell quiet, even Ghost stopped bouncing around.

"She may be. Expect the worst, and you might make it through there alive."

"Well, that's thankfully no different from the missions Zavala usually sends me on, so it should be fine."Sam responded, trying to reassure Eramis. 

They didn't want the Kell to feel like this particular raid was going to be worse than any of the others because of something she had been invovled in.

"I'll make sure to send all the information to my fireteam. Do you think you could provide us with a rough idea of where we should and shouldn't go?"

Elsie quickly marked a few different routes on the blueprints, adding big red lines to signal areas that were particularly unsafe.

"If you need to enter the space station, which is quite likely, you'll have to take elevators to get there. It's directly connected to the Crypt, so I assume the Fallen will have found it by now. Shouldn't be too hard to get there, thankfully."

Eramis was still standing next to the guardian, listening closely to the discussion, while Ghost seemed to be analyzing all the routes the Exo had marked on the blueprints.

"Right. Well, thank you for all that. If you need anything else, or if you have any more information for us, please contact me whenever. Ghost should be able to just record your messages."

"I will. If possible, I shall also try to be around for the actual raid. I cannot join you, but I might be able to help out via comms every now and then."

The woman turned towards the door, walking out of the tent while uttering a short goodbye, leaving everyone else to their own thoughts.

"Well, time to contact my fireteam and see if they can work out anything else. Elsie also uploaded a blueprint of the internal defense systems, looking at those might help."

"Noooooo. You are not going back to work Sam. Nope. Not on my watch."

Ghost almost smashed into their guardian, rapidly moving up and down in front of them to prevent any possible escapes.

"You said that we would bake cookies, so now we're going to bake cookies. I'm sure your friends would appreciate them too. And after that, we're going to turn on all the lights, and light some candles, and eat said cookies. And then..well, I guess then you can go and continue working."

Sam sighed, but accepted defeat, aware of the fact that their ghost wouldn't assist them if they decided to prepare for the raid now – and they did sort of need Ghost for that.

"Fine, cookies it is. Any preferences?"

Eramis, who had been mostly quiet since her short talk with the Exo, now held up two old, partially torn pieces of paper with recipes on them.

"These look quite interesting. I don't know how difficult it would be to make them, but I think we have all the ingredients here."

Sam carefully reached out and grasped the papers, staring at them for a few seconds before nodding softly.

"Yea,those should be fine. They're also pretty popular amongst most people, so we can probably give some to the other workers here?"

"Yes. Cookieeees. I mean look, I can't eat them, but they're fun. FUN. Now, we need at least a thousand cookies,soooo..."

The Kell laughed at the creature's enthusiasm while walking over to the kitchen counters and pulling out all the ingredients she could recognise from the fridge and the cupboards.

"Ghost, we do not need a thousand cookies. I don't even think we have enough butter for a thousand cookies."

"Fiiiine." 

The little ball of joy would have certainly deflated and slowly floated to the ground, if ghosts could do that.

Instead, they simply moved a little slower and bounced around a little less.

"Alright, so...how does one bake cookies?"

Eramis had managed to find all the ingredients while watching her two housemates, secretly enjoying their small interactions.

She never liked the idea of ghosts, mostly because of their association with the traveler, but this one was not only a pretty nice person – if one considered ghosts to be people – but was also obviously one of Sam's best friends, and Eramis appreciated them even more for that.

After all, aside from Ghost and the Exo that had visited earlier, Sam did not really talk to or spend time with anyone. 

She wasn't sure if that was just because of the current situation, but she hoped that that was the case.

The Kell was pulled out of her thoughts when Sam walked over to her, arranging the bags and bowls on the table and grouping them together by some method that the Eliksni did not yet understand.

"Right, you probably don't know that." Sam said, a smile on their face.

"Sooo, just pick one of the recipes, and we'll go through that first. Essentially, you just weigh your ingredients, mix them together, and then chill the dough before shaping it. Oh, and sometimes you pour chocolate on it, or you make sweet fillings, or you add nuts – there's a lot of ways to decorate them."

"How about we start with these?"

Eramis pointed at one of the papers,a partially faded picture of rather basic looking cookies with chocolate visible on the top left.

"Sure, sounds good. Ghost, wanna help out?"

Ghost did indeed want to help out, so they quickly floated over to the other two and opened a scan of said recipe along with some pictures that showed the correct handling of the ingredients.

"Wait Sam, Eramis! You forgot about the most important part!"

Both of them looked at the ghost, confusion written on their faces.

"The Dawning spirit!"

Ghost had apparently taken it upon themselves to work on that, as festive music started filling the room at the same time that most of the various fairy lights started glowing.

"Oh, you have to light some candles Sam. Those are important too. Pleeease?"

The guardian walked over to a few small, blue and white candles and used a few sparks of fire to light them, their glow enhancing the athmosphere in the small room even further.

Indeed, the combination of fairy lights, candles, definitely outdated music and the various carpets and blankets Ghost had found somewhere had managed to turn the boring and almost sterile tent into a comfortable and homey place.

"Perfect! Wait..I forgot something."

Sam laughed at the fact that their Ghost had finally realised that something was, in fact, missing.

"No mistletoe, Ghost. I already got rid of that, stop trying to sneak it into my decor every damn year, it won't work."

They had made that mistake once, and they would not make it again.

"Fiiine. Let's get started with the cookies, then!"

Sam walked back over to Eramis, grabbing one of the smaller bowls and showing the Eliksni how to combine some of the ingredients they would need for their baked goods.

They started mixing the flour and sugar while instructing the other how to prepare some other things they would need, reaching over every now and then to help her.

The guardian had just finished preparing a bowl with all of the dry ingredients when they reached over to another smaller bowl to add the wet ingredients and – of course – managed to knock over the bigger bowl, a large cloud of flower filling the air, the bowl falling down to the ground and spilling its other contents on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

The Kell looked over at her friend, concern in her eyes.

"Oh yea, don't worry. I'm just stupidly clumsy sometimes."

Sam chuckled awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with the current situtation.

Guardians weren't exactly supposed to be too stupid to properly bake cookies, after all, and they didn't like the idea of making a bad impression.

"Oh, that's fine. I can take that, I think. I just mix stuff, right?"

Instead of commenting negatively on the small issue, Eramis simply reached for a new bowl and some ingredients, looking at the old piece of paper next to her.

"I mean, look, I have four arms, I'm definitely more suited for this task anyways. You could help by actually telling me how to properly do everything?"

The Awoken nodded, a small smile on their face, before walking closer to the Kell, standing right next to her, arms touching, and reaching out for the recipe.

"Okay, so all you have to do is take the flour – that bag over there – and add it into the bowl. This scale shows how much you need, and it's fairly important for cookies."

The Eliksni nodded and started carefully measuring the ingredients, handling everything with as much caution as one would a newborn baby.

"Awwww, you're teaching her how to baaake."

"Ghost, shut up."

Sam obviously did not want to deal with their ghost at that moment, but it was obvious that the little thing wouldn't leave them alone anytime soon, and they had long since accepted that fact.

"But it's so cuuuuute. Maybe we should make baking workshops for all the Eliksni to show humanity that they're all really nice and careful and helpful and.."

"Ghost. No baking workshops."

Eramis had stopped working on the recipe and instead decided to watch the rather amusing conversation, chuckling at the behaviour of her two friends.

If Zavala walked in on the three of them now, standing next to the kitchen counter with ingredients spread out everywhere, a bowl and spilled flour on the ground, Dawning decorations all over the area and laughter filling the room, he would probably go insane.

Indeed, most people probably would.

But Sam, Eramis and Ghost were having fun, and that was the only thing that mattered.

A Guardian, an Eliksni and a ghost where standing in the same room, not fighting but instead laughing about spilled flour and burnt chocolate and the misuse of mistletoe, and they knew that this was a step in the right direction – even if everyone else might disagree.


	6. A battle we won

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Ghost are headed to the Deepstone Crypt and Eramis is sitting at home, waiting for them to return. And when they do return, they do so with a lot of stories, broken armor, and a new shiny gun.  
> Ghost also loves hugs even though he can't really hug anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeey,  
> I'm back!  
> Sorry for not updating, exams and me never really get along.  
> However, I'm now free for a few days, so I will most likely upload a bit more often :D  
> Warning: Spoilers for Deepstone Crypt
> 
> Yes, my chapter titles and summaries are still bad, I'm sorry

Eramis was sitting on the large sofa in the middle of the room, a tin of cookies in front of her, blankets and pillows haphazardly spread out on the floor and a few chairs.

She had been waiting for any information regarding Sam for the last few hours, but apparently, no one had considered actually getting in contact with her so she would know what was happening.

The weather in the area had been getting worse as well, stopping the Kell from simply walking towards another tent and demanding that someone talk to her.

Instead, she was now staring at a set of blueprints that Ghost had left for her, looking at the many possible routes the fireteam could take, trying to estimate how long it would take to get through the facility.

The Exo that had visited them not too long ago had pointed out where they were bound to encounter security mechanisms, but even including those, Eramis simply couldn't understand why the guardians were still not back outside.

Rising from her seat, the Eliksni planned on simply going to sleep for a few hours, walking towards one of the empty beds, when she heard a loud explosion and quickly rushed outside.

Even with the snowstorm decreasing her field of vision immensely, she could make out the bright ball of fire falling from the skies, followed by a loud, deafening noise.

Sam and their friends had apparently decided that the best way to deal with a space station holding confidential information was to send it crashing to the ground.

At least Eramis hoped that that was the case.

She had seen her fair share of guardians fight, and she was aware of the fact that they could both inflict and sustain large amounts of damage without any issues, but accidentally destroying a large metal object in the sky and then falling towards the ground didn't exactly sound safe.

The Kell waited for anything else to happen, but the world had gone back to its semi-permanent state of icy silence.

Aware of the fact that she truly couldn't do anything, the Eliksni headed back inside. 

The guardians surely had to be alive to destroy a whole space station, so she could stop worrying for a few hours and maybe even sleep a little.

When Eramis woke again, it was to the sounds of a very angry and annoyed guardian and their equally angry and equally annoyed ghost.

"I swear if Zavala doesn't pay us extra for this he can go and deal with the next issue by himself!"

Sam was still wearing their armor, which now featured a fair amount of dents, cuts, and bullet holes, as well as a big black spot on one of the sides, but had taken off the helmet and tossed it to the side alongside a large white weapon Eramis had never seen before and an array of the weapons they regularly used.

"Well, if he needs anything, he can go and wait for a week, because I am SO done resurrecting you for at least seven days."

The Kell slowly rose from her bed, ensuring that she was creating a fair amount of noise to alert her friends of her presence.

"Oh, hey Eramis. Slept well? Let me just tell you, that Captain of yours, or whatever she was? Atraks? Yea, that one. Good choice. Worst enemy I have ever faced in my whole life."

Their ghost seemed to agree, turning off its display for a second before changing the shown image to that of a rather angry skull.

"Sam, Ghost. It's good to see that you're alright, and I'd love to know what happened, but maybe you should go to sleep first? You've been gone for quite some time."

"What, no happy group hugs? Now I'm disappointed."

As if to demonstrate said disappointment, the ghost slowly floated to the ground accompanied by the sounds of crying and – violins?

"Buddie, can we please do the group hugs later? Eramis is right, I need to sleep."

Ghost reluctantly nodded and turned towards their owner, transmatting the armour they were wearing to wherever Guardians stored all their gear, leaving them in black leggings and a dark blue,long sleeved shirt.

"Oh, if you need help with that armour, I could probably see what I can fix while you're asleep."

"Oooooh, why did we not think of that? Right, let me juust transmat it back. Here you go. Also, if Zavala or anyone else comes by, we're sleeping, the huge metal thing is – hopefully – dead, and if anyone even so much as tries to wake us they will face the wrath of that new shiny gun Sam found."

The Kell was still fascinated by the abrupt mood changes the ghost sometimes displayed, but decided to worry about that another day, and instead quietly cleaned up the main area of their home, making sure to move all decoration to safe areas before covering the table with a heavy cloth and placing the armour pieces on top of it.

When she turned around to check on Sam, the guardian was already asleep in their bed, covered in multiple warm blankets, their ghost laying next to them on top of the blankets, all interfaces turned off.

Apparently ghosts needed to sleep too – or this one just didn't want to process anything for a few hours after what happened.

Eramis carefully arranged the metal pieces on the dark cloth, trying not to create any noise while checking for damage and placing each item so she could take care of it as well as possible.

She recalled that Zavala had sent up some basic armour repair kits not too long ago and left the tent to look for them in one of the crates that were still outside, only then realising that the snow storm had finally ended and now revealed clear skies and a wide open space in front of her.

Surely Ghost and Sam would love the view – alright, Ghost would primarily love the fact that they could bounce around in the snow.

Hoping for the weather to remain in its current state, the Eliskni grabbed a bunch of tools and cleaning supplies from a large wooden crate, as well as a smaller box that she had spotted inbetween the many items.

It was a small, unbranded box with Sam's name on it, but the contrast to the other objects in the shipment was so extreme that Eramis suspected the box to be yet another of Ghost's "very important" items. 

She certainly wouldn't mind more candles or blankets, and while the cookies they had made together were very different from the things she usually ate, she didn't dislike them.

However, the small brown container wasn't meant for her, so she decided to simply place it on one of the counters and wait for the others to open it.

Walking back inside, the Kell tried to assess which parts of the armour had taken the most damage and would take the longest to repair, and quickly settled on the chestpiece, sporting a big,uneven, black spot as well as multiple smaller dents, the thick black fabric torn in several locations.

Grabbing a piece of cloth, she started cleaning the item by running the rough material over the metal, removing a few bloodstains as well as parts of the blackened area, which she now realised was most likely simply soot from a fire.

Eramis used to hate guardians for the things they could survive, but estimating the perils her friend had gone through based on their armour, she was now more than happy that it took more than a few bullets and a fire to kill them.

She continued working on the chestplate, stitching back together the torn fabric and carefully evening out some of the dents when she was certain that Sam would sleep through the noise, then moving on to the next item, and the next, and the next, until the armour looked wearable again.

The Kell did not know how much time had passed when the guardian started moving around, opening their eyes and mumbling something about clones and calamities, but she decided to ignore the partially damaged weapons in favour of checking on the Awoken.

"Good morning, Sam. Are you alright? I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Oh, morning Eramis. No worries, I'm alright. Feeling a lot better than yesterday,but that's not difficult. Would you mind getting me some tea while I try to reactivate Ghost?"

The Eliksni nodded quickly before walking to the stove and preparing some hot water in a teakettle, grabbing a bag of black tea and some sugar – the guardian usually hated sweet drinks, but she had noticed that whenever they were feeling tired or had a lot to do, they would add some sugar to their tea while telling her that it was a terrible thing that no one should ever do except during emergencies.

Eramis decided that returning home from a major raid and being possible sleep deprived was an emergency.

She also reached for some of the magically toasted bread they had in their home – no one could ever explain why the bread was pre-toasted or how that even worked – and placed it on a small plate before handing Sam both the sweetened tea and the slices of toast.

The Awoken was holding their ghost, pressing seeminly random spots in an equally random pattern until the creature finally decided to wake up – or reactivate itself, or whatever it was that ghosts did.

"Good morning Ghost. How are you?"

"Morning Eramis. Juuust fine, even though I would have preferred a few more hours of nothingness. Well, that's not gonna happen, I guess.."

Sam took the breakfast the Kell was offering and patted the spot next to her on the bed, which, the Eliskni had learned over the last few days, was an invitation for her to sit down next to them.

"Thanks for the breakfast. I haven't properly eaten in far too long. And sorry, Ghost..but Zavala is going to ask for a report today, and I want to make sure that we actually have a report we can hand in."

"Right. Can't you just tell him that you blew up the Crypt and Atraks is dead and uh..Clovis is still an asshole?"

Eramis chuckled at Ghost's words, still fascinated by the fact that the creature actually had a personality.

"Sorry, but that's not going to be acceptable. I want to at least compile a rough overview of all the security systems and some of the things we found. Oh, and we should probably revise the map as well so that the teams going in for cleanup don't get lost."

"I'd offer to help, but I doubt I can do much."

The guardian turned to face their friend and smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, you already helped a lot by working on my armour and, you know, not blowing the whole place up. Oh, you could test out that new weapon, if you want to. Zavala wants to know exactly what it does and all that, and you could probably write that part of the report on your own."

"While I agree on that, shouldn't we maybe tell Eramis what actually happened? I doubt that the Vanguard contacted her at any point during the raid, and she should at least know the basics."

"If you don't mind telling me, I would appreciate it. But,well, you don't have to."

"No, I agree with Ghost. Plus, while I tell you everything, they could just record it and send that to Zavala alongside the written report."

"Dooooo you want background music? My archive has old tunes used in many movies of the previous ages and –"

"Maybe another day?"

Ghost wobbles around a bit, seeminly unable to decide on a fitting reaction, before dropping down on the bed covers between the two and signaling their guardian that they could start talking.

"Well, here goes nothing..."

About an hour and three cups of tea later, Sam had finally finished explaining what happened in the Deepstone Crypt, starting off with a rather simple,monotone and neutral explanation and slowly spiraling down into a more emotional story, speckled with many details that no report would ever require.

They talked about their one teammate that couldn't join them but steadily supplied them with information they found in the archives as well as offering support with navigation; about that one titan that just didn't understand that maybe you shouldn't always punch everything as soon as possible (while also saving their lives multiple times by punching things one should punch as soon as possible); about the warlock that essentially just spent his whole day (and night) healing his allies; about how they had struggled with navigating the space station because for some reason, Clovis Bray had set it up in a way that would require them to jump across multiple platforms in outer space.

The guardians' favourite topic, however, seemed to be her former Lieutenant Atraks, who had somehow figured out a way to use the technology hidden in the Deepstone Crypt for her own purposes, and had defeated the fireteam again and again until they finally found a way to get past her after over 12 hours.

Ghost randomly stopped recording their voice and instead played samples of what Eramis assumed to be Clovis' voice to add more character to the story.

Sam also told her about the fact that Taniks, an Eliksni that the Vanguard had considered dead, had been brought back as an Exo, and apparently really hated the guardians – to the point where he decided to blow up the space station.

He also somehow managed to transform himself into a huge shank-like creature, and Sam had to stop talking at that point because they were laughing too hard while trying to explain exactly what he looked like.

Ghost didn't help by supplying them with images of Taniks – heavily edited with multiple stickers, doodles, and weird sound effects.

"And yea, after that guy was finally dead, most of the Eliksni left the area. Not that there were many that had survived until then anyways, but well. Oh, and I found this..thing."

Sam pointed towards the oddly shaped white weapon they had placed in a corner.

"I vote that we test it out on some Vex! oooh, or.. do you think the Drifter would let you in with that thing?"

"I mean, when has Drifter ever excluded anyone from Gambit because they had a new, shiny, unknown weapon that could possibly destroy the universe?"

"Fair enough."

"I assume this fellow is staying in the Tower?"

"Ohh, right. Not really, but also kinda. He's..special. Don't worry about it, he can probably transmat us into Gambit from here, so we won't have to smuggle you to the Tower."

Ghost was already contacting the Drifter when their guardian interrupted them.

"Wait. Do you really want to take Eramis into Gambit? Because she's not a guardian and also not any other kind of immortal and I don't think that the Drifter would take well to that either way."

"Aaaaw. Well, maybe we can ask..No, I doubt Shaxx would let her in. Alright, Vex it is!"

Ghost rose into the air, floating towards the many pieces of gear now stacked randomly in a corner, seeminly looking for more weapons that they wanted to test out, before rapidly turning around and arriving back in front of Eramis and Sam within seconds.

"You forgot about something veeery important."

"Did I? I'm fairly certain Zavala only wants that report later today, and I did have breakfast.."

"The group huuuug! I want my "welcome back home it's great to know that you didn't die to this weird crazy insane Eliksni that cloned herself eight times and shot lasers around for twelve whole hours" hug!"

The Kell laughed loudly at their antics, while Sam dropped their face into their own hands, a soft sound stuck somewhere between despair, fascination and laughter leaving their lips.

"Fine, have your group hug. Are you sure that you're a ghost and not just some very weird person stuck in a ghost shell?"

"Yeeeees I am. Also, you are part of the group hug, Sam. That's the "group" part, you know? Gotta join in too."

Ghost was floating up to Sam, bouncing around right in front of their face, as if taunting them to say anything against that statement.

However, the guardian had already decided on what to do and reached out for Eramis who hugged them back , with Ghost bouncing around in between the two before settling down on the Kells shoulder, apparently deciding on their favourite spot.

"Happy now?"

"Stop talking, start hugging!"

"Also, more people should consider Eliksni as hugging partners. My scans have told me that having four arms is very beneficial for these kinds of interactions."

"Ghost..."

"Yeeeeees?"

"Please shut up."

"No romantic music? Oooor classical music? I have movie soundtracks.."

"Thank you Ghost, but I think we're fine."

"Alright then. Just keep in mind that a full value group hug has to last at least five minutes or else it doesn't count. I'm just making sure you don't get bored."

"I promise I will tell you if I get bored."

Eramis was now almost permanently laughing while Sam was still stuck inbetween joy and anger, but they eventually settled for a soft smile while relaxing and leaning into the Eliksni, huffing air towards their ghost that was now once again in front of their face.

"Oh, do you want me to light some candles? We still have the fairly lights too, I could turn those on. Oooor...eh, maybe this is fine."


	7. An unexpected Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam plans on spending the day on their own when an old friend stops by and they remember that there are things outside of Europa.  
> In the meantime, Ghost teaches Eramis a new game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am baaaack!  
> Sorry about the lack of chapters recently, I was quite busy and didn't feel like writing, buuut I hope this one makes up for it :D

Sam was standing outside of their tent, staring at the many ice structures and the light reflected off the frozen lake near their camp, focusing on nothing and everything at the same time.

It was one of the rare days where the sky wasn't covered in clouds and the sunlight would manage to come through and turn the previously grim and white planet into a beautiful world of blues and purples.

They had spent the last few days compiling all the information they had gained from the deepstone crypt together with Eramis and their ghost, had inspected all the new gear they had found and even managed to install an update for Ghost.

All things considered, the last few days had been busy but rather uneventful, and Sam should not be this worried about..

Well, they didn't even know what they were worrying about.

All they knew was that a small voice in the back of their head told them that they had missed something, that they couldn't just sit down and relax now.

The guardian, however, decided to ignore the feeling of dread and instead listened to Zavala for once, and planned on simply doing nothing all day long.

Almost nothing, at least – surely reading or taking a walk was fine.

Ghost was inside the tent with Eramis, doing whatever it was that those two always did together – considering the relationship of the Eliksni and the Traveler, and the fact that Ghost was literally the guardian's link to said entity, Sam was still confused that they got along so well.

Then again, the same could be said for their relationship with the Kell.

Sam had never been particularly bad at reading people – or at making friends, for that matter. They had their average sized social bubble, their (slightly above) average fireteam, a very chatty ghost, and regular calls with (below average) members from the vanguard.

They were amongst the younger guardians, that was true, but they had enough experience in life to know that Eramis wasn't just pretending to be friendly around them for her own benefits.

For some odd reason, the Kell genuinely liked being stuck in the middle of nowhere on a planet overrun by Vex and hostile Eliksni, together with a slightly hyper ghost and a slightly awkward guardian.

Sure, she would occasionally fling ice crystals made of stasis at the other tents when the other stationed vanguard workers annoyed her, and from time to time one would hear her complaining about her boredom, but that was about it.

Recently, Eramis had even started talking about herself and her previous life.

Small things, at first, like some information about the Eliksni that would most likely be found in the deepstone crypt.

Yesterday, the woman had used thousands of small ice crystals to recreate one of the buildings she remembered from her old home, Riis.

She would just sit there and add one small piece after another, working with a rough shape and then creating hundreds of small details.

Sam had never been to Riis, and would never manage to know what it was like, but they could tell that Eramis had loved her previous home – and most likely still did.

Before they had gone to bed, the Kell had told them a story that the Eliksni used to tell their children, about how the stars talked to each other and moved around to get closer to their loved ones, and thus created all the galaxies that one could now see.

The guardian was happy that they got along with the Kell, especially since they probably wouldn't be allowed to leave her alone anytime soon – Zavala still didn't like her all that much – but that didn't make the situation any less confusing.

Surely it was normal for people to get along when they had to spend a prolonged amount of time together with no one else around, but that usually didn't involve two previously hostile species now baking cookies together, did it?

They would have to ask their ghost about how they should best proceed – they had never even thought about that before, but now that they didn't have to focus on the darkness and some weird Clovis Bray lab anymore, they had time to review these kind of things again.

But maybe, maybe they didn't have to do that. Maybe they could just go on and leave things the way they were now, without internally questioning themselves fifty times.

It's not like they were doing anything unusual.

Sure, they were probably one of the first humans to befriend an Eliksni, and most definitely the first human to spend a prolonged amount of time hugging said creature, but that didn't mean that they had to worry about it.

Right?

Well, just standing there and asking the same questions ten times over wouldn't get them anywhere, and it definitely wouldn't be relaxing.

Sam turned back and started walking towards the small camp, planning to grab some of their warmer clothes to go for a walk, as they were currently only wearing a very basic set of protective gear.

Maybe they could take their sparrow for a ride and somehow avoid all the Vex that were bound to attack them as soon as they left the safe zone.

Okay, different plan.

They coouuld walk towards the old lab and see if there was anything interesting to be found in the outer ruins – where they definitely wouldn't get ambushed by fifty Eliksni.

Damnit.

"Ghooost, is there anywhere I can go without risking death?"

Right.

Their ghost was indoors with Eramis, they wouldn't hear them or be able to answer.

Sam looked around, inspecting the heaps of fresh snow from last nights storm.

They could build a snowman.

The guardian started by estimating the total size of the snow creature, making sure that they would have enough snow to get a nice and proportionate sculpture, before looking for anything that they could use as arms and nose.

They picked up a few old, leftover pieces from their basic weapon and armor repair kit and stared at them until they seemed to have the right shape.

Not like there was anything else they could use anyways.

Sam started by forming a slightly misshapen lump of snow , stacking small amounts of snow on the top and the sides until they had a decent looking lower body part for the snowman.

Reaching to their side to grab more snow, they had just started forming the next part when they heard steps behing them.

"Is this some new, fancy way to fight all the Vex hiding five feet away from here? Or did you run out of training golems, pal?"

They hadn't expected this particular visitor, but then again, that was sort of part of his charm.

"Hey Drifter. How are you doing?"

Sam continued working on their statue, well aware of the fact that their companion wouldn't mind and would make odd comments either way.

"Well see, kiddo, I've been told that someone here managed to befriend a Fallen before me and I don't know how to feel 'bout that."

"Oh, sorry for stealing your...record, I guess. You could always just try to talk to Eramis yourself and become her new best friend if that makes you happy."

"Yeaa, I doubt she'd agree with that. The big lady doesn't really seem to like me...or anyone else here, for that matter."

The guardian nodded solemny, well aware of the fact that even though some of the crewmembers had tried to talk to the Eliksni, she usually just ignored them.

"Plus, we all know that you wouldn't appreciate me stealing your friend, kiddo."

"So, why are you here, then?"

The man pointed towards their tent in a wide gesture.

"I've been told that someone is hiding a very fancy gun in there."

"Of course that's it."

Truly, Sam shouldn't have expected anything else.

They were friends with the Drifter – kind of. It was a weird mixture of many different feelings and actions and they didn't really know what was going on, but it didn't really matter anyways.

"Sorry for not appreciating your snowman art gallery, but I'm sure the Vex will love it."

As soon as he finished his sentence, he started slowly walking towards the tent, waiting for them to catch up to him.

The guardian got up and quickly got to the camp, making sure to enter alongside the Drifter to avoid any conflict.

To say that they were slightly confused by the display in front of them was an understatement, and even their companion seemed to be puzzled.

Ghost was playing some random music they probably found in the golden age archives while boucing around in front of a stack of evenly shaped pieces of wood, stacked up a weird tower on the table, a few wooden pieces lying underneath the ghost.

Eramis was sitting on her usual chair on the opposite side of the table, an equal amount of pieces in front of her, staring at the tower that was missing a few parts.

"Ghost, what are you..?"

"Nonono, you can't talk, we're trying to concentrate over here Sam. This is difficult!"

Sam nodded and pointed the Drifter towards the small stash of weapons they had in the corner before also gesturing towards the coffee machine they never used and a few tea bags on the counter.

The man walked over to the counter and made himself a cup of coffee with one of the generic vanguard cups that were placed next to the coffee beans while they carefully tried to separate the "fancy" gun that everyone was talking about recently without disturbing their two friends.

"Oh nonononononononono"

The second the words reached their ears they could hear the sound of the wooden parts clattering to the table and the floor and quickly turned their head towards their ghost, who had now changed the previously happy tune to sad violin music.

"Are you alright?"

"How am I supposed to be alright I just lost this very important game. And I was this close to winning toooo!"

"Don't worry Sam, they acted like this whenever they lost and then recovered within about half a second. Are you alright? You were gone for quite some time."

"Uh, thanks for telling me. I hope Ghost isn't too obnoxious. I was just outside, I had to think about some things. Also, this is the Drifter, he's a...friend. From the Tower."

"And by friend they mean that one guy who doesn't treat them like an asshole because he's just an equal amount of shitty towards everyone."

"Ghost!"

"Juuuust kidding. He's chill. Really. Yknow,stasis powers and all that"

Sam groaned, slamming their head into their open hands.

"Well, I liked it."

The Drifter walked over to the guardian and took the gun they were holding, inspecting it for a few minutes with everyone intently watching him.

"Heeey it's fine, no need to glare holes into my back. I won't shoot anyone, promise. Juust trying to figure out what this baby does."

"I can explain it, if you would like me to. I spent the last few days inspecting it's various functions, and I have to admit, it's a rather unique weapon."

Sam was happy that they weren't the only one confused by Eramis' offer. 

Even the Drifter seemed slightly confused by the fact that the Kell was trying to help instead of ignoring him or being rude.

"Oh yea sure, that would be cool. "

"Could you pleaase go outside so that I don't have to worry about any holes in my roof?"

"Sure thing kiddo."

The man followed the Eliksni out of the tent and left both the guardian and their ghost stunned by the fact that no one had died yet.

"So, if we ever have to go to the Tower, we at least don't have to worry about Drifteroni shooting her, huh?"

"Yet...."

"Optimism, guardian! We will fight for a brighter future!"

Sam laughed at the terrible impression of Zavala that their ghost was obviously still working on.

"Are you sure you're okay though? You seem kinda..woozy."

They didn't know what exactly their ghost was trying to imply, but if the little bauble of joy noticed it, it was very likely that Eramis and the Drifter had,too.

"I'm just tired, I think. Had a lot to do, lately."

"Doooooo you wanna play a game?"

Sam was still standing rather far away from the table, so they moved closer towards it, inspecting the many small wooden pieces scattered over the tabletop and the carpet on the floor.

"I think we should clean up the leftovers of the last one before you even suggest a new game."

"Fiiine, let's do that then. And while we do that,you tell me about whatever is going on in that brain of yours, cause I still can't read minds."

The guardian sighed before nodding, aware of the fact that their ghost wouldn't let it go anyways, and sometimes talking did help.

They started by slowly piercing together their own thoughts and relaying them to their companion one by one, adding in more random details from time to time.

When all of the wooden pieces had been picked up and were neatly stored in a small drawer, they had somehow managed to summarise every thought occupying their brain without sounding like a complete lunatic – or a confused twelve year old.

"Hmmm..you could just talk to Eramis, you know. Tell her that you think of her as friend. I mean, I'm sure the Eliksni also did that whole "social relationships" thingie, yea? Eramis mentioned that she had a partner, so I'm sure she also had friends. And then you could just talk to her about what Eliksni buddies do normally, I guess."

Sam stared up at their ghost, trying to find the flaw in the plan.

There was no flaw.

"Alright, I suppose I can do that."

"Gooood. And then we can go to the Tower and visit all of the new stores and get her some shiny stuff – I'm sure she'll like shiny stuff. Oh, or maybe you can move back to the Tower, surely Zavala knows by now that Eramis won't randomly attack anyone, and then you can apply for a bigger apartment because you have a roommate, and also maybe you'll get a garden oh and I want pizza!"

It was one of those days,apparently.

The guardian did want to go back to the Tower eventually, and if they could somehow convince the vanguard to give Eramis a separate apartment – or to move them to a bigger apartment entirely – things would definitely be a lot easier.

They could visit their friends again, and they could walk outside without worrying about armor.

The Drifter probably had his giant weirdly shaped spaceship with him..

Maybe they could convince him to help them get all the furniture back to the Tower and suprise the vanguard with their arrival.

Surely they couldn't just kick one of their best guardians and a new allied Kell out, right?

And then they could get pizza and ice cream and a comfy blanket.

Aaaand maybe annoy Zavala all day by showing Eramis around the tower and telling everyone that they couldn't stop them because the Eliksni was their ally now and they all had to be nice and friendly and all those things.

Yea, that sounded like a pretty decent plan.


End file.
